Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs

Baked Chicken and Feta Meatballs
David Malosh for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Barrett Washburne.
Total Time
30 minutes
Rating
4(762)
Notes
Read community notes

Filled with feta, yogurt and oats to keep the chicken tender and flavorful, these meatballs lean Mediterranean, but they’re subtle enough to play well with others. Though they anchor any meal as the main character, they welcome a wide range of supporting cast members. You could roast broccoli, asparagus or other vegetables with a similar cooking time in another sheet pan in the oven, or add heartier vegetables like delicata squash to the oven first, since they take a bit longer to cook. Serving the meatballs in a bowl of leftover tomato sauce or your favorite marinara would be a winning combination, too. Use them to add heft to salad, or (gently) drop them into a brothy soup just until warmed. 

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Ingredients

Yield:4 servings
  • ¾cup finely crumbled feta
  • ¼packed cup fresh mint leaves, finely chopped
  • ¼cup old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1tablespoon plain thick yogurt (such as labneh) or Greek or Icelandic yogurt
  • 1teaspoon dried oregano
  • ½ to 1teaspoon red-pepper flakes
  • Kosher salt
  • 1pound ground chicken or turkey (preferably dark meat)
  • 2tablespoons olive oil
  • 1lemon, halved
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (4 servings)

327 calories; 23 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 10 grams monounsaturated fat; 3 grams polyunsaturated fat; 7 grams carbohydrates; 2 grams dietary fiber; 1 gram sugars; 25 grams protein; 428 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, mix ½ cup feta with half the chopped mint, plus the oats, yogurt, oregano, red-pepper flakes and 1 teaspoon salt, breaking up any lingering feta chunks with your hands. Add the chicken, gently combining until it’s lightly speckled with green dots.

  2. Step 2

    Drizzle the oil on a sheet pan and use your hands to spread it around. Use your oiled palms to shape the chicken into 1- to 1¼-inch loosely firm but not compact balls; lightly roll them in the oil on the sheet pan when shaping to coat them and prevent them from sticking. You should have 18 to 20 meatballs. Once the meatballs have all been rolled out, spread them out evenly on the sheet pan.

  3. Step 3

    Cook meatballs until the bottoms are browned and the centers are no longer pink, 15 to 18 minutes.

  4. Step 4

    Squeeze half of the lemon over the pan, then use a wooden spoon to move the meatballs around, turning the browned side up, and scraping up any browned bits on the pan. Transfer to a bowl or leave in the pan and top with the remaining feta and mint. Cut the remaining lemon half into quarters and serve at the table for squeezing on top.

Ratings

4 out of 5
762 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

These little meatballs by themselves are nice, but I think they'd really shine with a zesty, herbaceous" supporting dish." I served them with zucchini noodles, feta, and mint and liked it, but I think a hearty Greek salad with olives, cucumbers, tomato, red onion, and herbs would be the perfect pairing. They have nice, subtle flavor but are asking to be paired with more!

I’m thinking these would be nice with gyro fixings (diced tomato, cucumber, onion, tzatziki, pita). Sometimes I deconstruct it, all chopped in a bowl with added lettuce and some rice pilaf. Thoughts?

I subbed fresh, chopped basil for the mint and added the olive oil directly into the meatball mix. Placed the rolled up meatballs on a parchment paper-lined sheet pan. They turned out moist and I had a no-fuss clean up!

These are fantastic! They are easy, quick, and have great flavor. I used chicken and they turned out super moist. Definitely the best meatball I’ve ever made. Be sure to lightly mix the ingredients and just drop them on the sheet as a loose ball, don’t compact. I put them on a bed of arugula, with hummus, tzatziki, pickled onions, kalamata olives and cucumber. Pita would be a nice addition.

Great, easy recipe. The only issue was the salt. A tsp of kosher salt is too much with the feta already adding ample salt. I’d half it or skip the extra salt altogether next time.

Quick and delicious. While making, I wondered - no garlic? I thought of adding some in the mixture but forgot. But while the meatballs baked, I whipped up garlic yogurt sauce - Greek yogurt w its whey, lemon juice and zest, garlic microplaned in, salt. Ate w pita, more mint leaves, sliced cucumbers. Quick and satisfying dinner!

The standard Quaker Oats are old fashioned rolled oats. You're all set.

I loved these meatballs and my family loved them too. They are easy to make, and I'm hoping the meatballs will freeze well. I think they would make a great snack on a car trip. They are heart healthy. I will make it again very soon. Also, I liked the idea of serving them with a nice Greek salad.

I replaced the mint with (double) basil and added a tablespoon of spicy avocado salsa. The recipe yielded exactly 20 meatballs, which I cooked in cast iron on the stovetop for 5 minutes, turning them so they browned all over. Easy and delicious. We added a Greek-ish salad with grape tomatoes (plucked from our So Cal autumn yard), green pepper, red onion, arugula, and radishes, tossed in a horseradish mustard-red wine vinaigrette. Very satisfying.

My favorite way to serve these is over a bed of romaine and feta, cucumbers, olive oil, and a yogurt-lemon-dill dressing, with roasted broccoli and asparagus.

This recipe can be moved in any direction - I did it as Thai-like by chopping coriander stems with jalapeños, garlic and red onion, adding oatmeal and yogurt and red pepper for quick mix-in to food processor, them mixing ground turkey with the resultant mixture - rolling balls with generously oiled hands and cooking them on parchment made for mess-free cleanup with no sticking. A coconut milk, lime juice and fishsauce combo with a little soy sauce then brought meatballs and noodles together.

Good base recipe but I added: chopped parsley and thyme, more like 1/4 cup Greek yogurt vs 1 tbsp, chopped garlic and scallions, and some sumac. Turned out great but I agree with another person that they were a tad dry. May add an egg the next time. Flavors were great though and they cooked up in 15 minutes in the oven.

Probably my favorite NYT cooking recipe! We have made it so many times, exactly as the recipe is. We like to serve it over pasta (with tomato sauce or pesto) or in a pita with a yogurt tzatziki and toppings.

2-3 teaspoons salt directly in meatball mixture

Next time I will replace the mint with (plenty of) fresh parsley and broil to get a bit of browning.

The flavor was good but the meatballs were really dry.

Highly recommend

Nice meatballs, although mine turned out a little firm. I will consider adding an egg to the dough next time to make them softer. Otherwise, the taste was great. I made some boiled and then oven baked potatoes on the side, cut in the shape of fried potatoes. My kids thought the dish came straight out of the Greek grandma’s book.

- Added 1 large garlic clove

Italian style: Use Gorgonzola instead of feta Use basil instead of mint

Terrific meatballs — light, flavorful — but I agree with commenters who say they should be served with a sauce of some kind. Despite the chopped herbs and cheese sprinkled on at the end they were a little sad and dry rolling around on the plate. Will make again, but with a light tomato sauce or maybe tzatziki on the side.

Fired this up in the air fryer to save the pan. Started with finely chopped garlic -3 cloves and half a white onion diced… yogurt made it really nice and moist high air fry at 390 degrees F …15-17 mins Didn’t have any mint so went withcilantro. Feta is crucial but forgot the lemon .. dang! Excellent however and will make again

Half a lemon at the end was too much, but it was all good. I would make again for myself because of its healthy and tastes pretty good, but i wouldn’t make it for my daughter and i again. They weren’t good Enough. The meatballs from the Italian wedding soup far exceeded these in flavor, just the meatballs on their own. The whole soup was so good, too!

I don't have rolled oats. Has anyone subbed them with cooked quinoa or cooked rice? I think that should work but I'd love to hear if anyone has tried that!

Served with a Greek salad, homemade tzatziki, and roasted vegetables with dill. You may have to crank up the heat to get them to brown, I waited too long and they got a little dry. But overall easy recipe and great flavor

I allow the meatball mixture to rest for a minute and then pan-fry a small ball. This helps me test for salt or more herbs before the mix is shaped.

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